Cherry Blossoms
by Aoz0ra
Summary: [ONESHOT] I’ll make it up to you one day though, when you too realize you never really liked him like you thought you did. I’ll make it up to you then. [SasuNaru]


**Disclaimer:** Fine crush my dreams! I do not own Naruto T-T :goes off and cries in a corner:

**A/N:** short and sweet I suppose—enjoy!

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**Cherry Blossoms**

That's why I used to like you, ya know? You were—no _are_—beautiful, just like the cherry blossoms you were named for, that and . . . I thought I knew you.

I thought I understood all of your inner workings. I knew why, when you thought that no one was around, you looked sad and lonely—just completely _empty_ inside.

Your _eyes_.

Those pretty jade eyes told me everything of your longing for _him_ and your hope that someday _he _may return your feelings or simply recognize you as something more than just another annoying girl fawning over him . . . I loved the hope in your eyes. In that respect, you and I were not all that different from each other. You always hoped and believe that someday he would love you back, just as I had once hoped and believed that I would eventually win your heart. But after a while . . .

I gave up on you.

I'm not as thick as everyone thinks. I knew that I was fighting a lost cause—a losing battle. I knew _from the start _that I couldn't out match _him_ in the fight for your love.

Even when I realized this, my feelings for you still lingered. You would forever be the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. But one day it dawned on me—that while it was your love that I desired, I had never really wanted _your attention_, but rather _his_. That stoic, cold-hearted bastard. I would do _anything_ to get a reaction from him. And as it turns out,

I was the only one he recognized.

He fought with me and called me an idiot. But he would _smile_—and that would make up for everything.

During training we would spar, while you sat at the sidelines, quietly observing his every move. Watching his perfected movements clashing with my less graceful, yet still effective blows.

Whenever he and I fought, it was a challenge, the prize always being if I won, we would go to Ichiraku for lunch and he'd treat me to a bowl or two or three of ramen.

Sometimes I think he would lose on purpose. I mean for someone who graduated as the number one rookie in our class, he sure did lose to me a lot.

I remember clearly how after passionately watching us spar, _every single time_, you'd looked up at him with a smile, hoping desperately that this time he would see how great you really were and would accept your offer for lunch, or dinner, or a movie, or whatever else you proposed.

You should have noticed it before, and I think you did. The way he rejected your offers without a second's through and how he so easily dismissed anything you had to say, should have been clue enough.

I had beaten him up for that. I _hated _the way he treated you back then—like someone insignificant, someone not worth his fucking time. I knew what that felt like and I never wanted anyone else to feel that way as long as I could help it.

I hated him because of you . . .

Then one day.

That day last winter, after we had just arrived in Konoha after completing another painfully long mission—do you remember it? After he and I dropped you off at your apartment in the middle of town, he headed towards my house. I, as usual, was raving about how beautiful you were especially when you fought. I told him there was nothing that could make me happier than just _one_ date with you. I meant that. You know acknowledgement has always been at the top of my to-do list.

I was rambling on like a stupid goon, completely dumbstruck by the image of you in my mind. Still dreaming of being with you when it was clearly what neither of us wanted.

We reached my house in no time at all . . . though it was already dark by that time. Standing in the door-frame of my meager apartment, I bid Sasuke farewell and promised him that I would kick his ass in our next sparring session.

He just stood there and smiled.

. . . And he told me that _I _am beautiful "like the brightest ray of sunlight on a stormy day." I thought he was kidding, you know—just trying to pull my leg. But then he kissed me. That insensitive jerk _kissed_ me.

Not like that accidental kiss on the first day at the Ninja Academy—this was the real thing.

_Shit_. That was all that I could think of at the time. I mean, what I mind blower! He never ceases to amaze me; I still have no idea what is running through his beautiful head.

I guess that was when it really sunk in that I had never been chasing _you_ in the first place.

Part of me just wanted to burst out laughing at the irony of it all.

--

I guess what I'm just saying is that I'm sorry. Sorry for all the trouble and pain I've caused you. Sorry for taking _him_ away. Sorry for . . . well, _everything_. I'll make it up to you one day though, when you too realize you never really liked _him_ like you thought you did. I'll make it up to you then.

I promise.

-Owari-

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**A/N:** I wanted to write this because as I've been reading the latest chapters of Naruto, I've begun to realize that "hey, Sakura's really not all that bad." So here's me not bashing Sakura while still making it a SasuNaru fic! XD

-Aoi


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